The #BeDowntown campaign
A couple weeks ago, the City launched the #BeDowntown campaign, a video campaign which shares authentic stories about our downtown. It’s real people sharing stories that aren’t sugar coated. It acknowledges the issues but also reminds us that there are a lot of good businesses downtown that need our support. I shared this campaign on reddit a few weeks ago and it wasn’t well received. People wanted more than a marketing campaign and I’m happy to share that after a significant amount of work, Downtown Prince George, the PG Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Prince George, and the City of Prince George have launched our new Downtown Strategy. These four groups will be leading the Downtown Strategy Team in consultation with many different user groups as it relates to each of the recommendations.
The Strategy & The Team
Spring last year, council did an info session with the consultants that Downtown Prince George had hired to work on a downtown strategy. They walked us through their process for consultation and asked us questions in a focus group type setting about what we envisioned for our downtown. This was one of many focus groups ran as they worked to better understand what our collective vision is for our downtown. The strategy that was shared at council last night feels like a true representation of our collective vision.
The strategy starts by sharing it’s objectives: develop a unique positioning, identify future trends, establish growth opportunities, action recommendations. It then proceeds to go into a situational analysis of our opportunities and challenges, shares the vision, target audiences, and recommendations.
When looking at the current perception of downtown, I can say that I’ve heard all these things listed below and it rings true to me. Many go downtown to eat, shop and work but would agree with it having low livability. A personal hope of mine is that rather than developers targeting seniors for downtown housing projects who might not want to live right downtown, they instead target young people and help them start building equity in an affordable multifamily developments – but that’s another convo for another day when the OCP consultation is done.
Vision
What does the vision for downtown Prince George look like? The first statement in the vision states: “Downtown Prince George is the city’s cultural and business heart, a destination and gathering place for local and visitors and a preferred location for businesses.” When I personally think of our downtown, I think about a kitchen with a big table where family sits to share a meal, play games, work on business proposals or plans or just do work or homework – and so this idea of downtown being a gathering place for culture and business resonates with me deeply.
Recommendations
Before we get into the recommendations, the consultants have identified six downtown development principles which I think are worth mentioning because the downtown’s that I love exhibit all of these principles. Mixed-use downtown is something many residents have called for so it’s no surprise to see that in there. A Thriving Arts, Entertainment, and Cultural Hub – last term former Councillor Terri McConnachie and myself did a public art tour while at the FCM convention in Quebec City. This tour was amazing and they really showcased how public art, entertainment, and culture is an attractant for young people to a city. The point often gets brought up that we don’t do a good job of keeping graduates in Prince George despite having a university and a college. Investing in arts, entertainment and culture is something that I firmly believe will change that (in addition to other things like affordable housing options).
Under each of these principles, we see associated recommendations:
Next Steps
The Downtown Strategy Team is launching as the first step of this strategy and they will be bringing an update to council at the end of Q2 (June) so please stay tuned for that. Some will buy-in to the new strategy like me, but I also know that others will likely be more hesitant and that is a very natural response to change. What I ask is this: Please read through the plan, see it’s intentions, and give it a chance to transform our downtown. The work will likely be slower than you want mostly because changing opinions is the hardest type of change to bring about (at least in my opinion) but I am confident that supporting this strategy will result in positive change to our downtown.
If you want to send your thoughts on the new downtown strategy, feel free to send an email to Mayor and Council or a letter of correspondence for our next council agenda. You can comment on this blog or get in touch with me as well. Thanks for reading!
coriramsay 